An oil-pressure control device for an automatic transmission apparatus is known in the art, according to which pressure of working oil to be supplied to clutches of the automatic transmission apparatus is controlled to thereby control engagement and disengagement of the clutches in order to change a shift range of the automatic transmission apparatus. In such oil-pressure control device, a detent lever is rotated or reciprocated in accordance with a shift range selected by a vehicle driver. A manual valve, to which the rotational or reciprocal movement of the detent lever is inputted, has a spool for changing an oil passage by its reciprocal movement. A linear solenoid valve, to which the working oil is supplied by the change of the oil passage, supplies the working oil to the clutches after the pressure of the working oil is adjusted. According to the above operation, gears corresponding to the clutches are connected to each other, to thereby change the shift range of the automatic transmission apparatus.
The oil-pressure control device has a range sensor, which converts a relative position of the spool to a valve body of the manual valve into an electrical signal so as to output the electrical signal corresponding to the relative position of the spool to an electronic control unit of the automatic transmission apparatus. Two recessed portions are formed at a coupling portion formed at one end of the spool. A slider pin formed in a slider is coupled with one of the recessed portions, while a lever pin formed in the detent lever is coupled with the other recessed portion. According to the above structure, the spool of the manual valve as well as the slider of the range sensor is moved in accordance with the movement of the detent lever, which is connected to a shift lever operated by the vehicle driver.
A dimension of the recessed portion (for the slider pin) is made to be larger than a diameter of the slider pin, so that slider can smoothly move. In the similar manner, a dimension of the other recessed portion (for the lever pin) is made to be larger than a diameter of the liver pin, so that the spool can smoothly move in the valve body. According to such structure, an error inevitably exists between an actual relative position of the spool to the valve body and a relative position of the spool detected by the range sensor.
An inhibitor switch for the automatic transmission apparatus is known in the art, for example, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 2005-291371, according to which two pins are formed in the detent lever. Each of the slider and the spool has a recessed portion, with which the respective pin is coupled. According to such a structure, the error between the actual relative position of the spool to the valve body and the relative position of the spool detected by the range sensor is made smaller.
According to the structure of the above inhibitor switch for the automatic transmission apparatus, the slider and the spool are respectively assembled to the valve body of the manual valve. On the other hand, the detent lever is assembled to a transmission casing for accommodating the automatic transmission apparatus. Since not only the spool as well as the slider is movable with respect to the valve body but also the detent lever is movable with respect to the transmission casing, it is necessary to use a specific jig for fixing relative positions of the spool and the slider to the detent lever when the spool and the slider are assembled together to the detent lever at the same time. Accordingly, not only the specific jig is necessary but also an assembling process becomes complicated, to thereby increase a number of assembling steps for the oil-pressure control device.